-Down to Earth High-level committee report was submitted to the Prime Minister's Office in May 2014, and includes radical recommendations Tribal communities have historically faced the brunt of the state's development agenda. It seems the attitude of the government towards the tribal communities has changed little over the years. A report of the current status of tribal communities, submitted to the Prime Minister's Office in May 2014, has been kept under wraps with...

-The Hindu New Delhi: While observing that the Court could not encroach into policy matters of the government, the Delhi High Court has dismissed a public interest writ petition seeking directions to the Centre to make available generic medicines and medical treatment to the public at large at a reasonable cost. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice R.S. Endlaw had earlier this week said that the Centre and...

-The Business Standard Govt suppresses report recommending radical reforms to improve their socio-economic status as it goes against Centre's rapid industrialisation agenda The National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre has suppressed the report of the High-Level Committee on the Status of Tribals. The report presents a scathing analysis of how development activities and strategies in India have increased the socio-economic gulf between tribals and rest of the citizens of India and...

-The Indian Express In an article in these columns (‘A fertile mess', IE, December 11), Ashok Gulati says India has landed its fertiliser industry in a mess because of rising subsidies, lagging investment, unbalanced use of fertilisers and diversion of urea for other uses, among other things. He blames it all on administered pricing and subsidy costs, and advocates the increase of urea prices or cash transfer of the fertiliser subsidy...

-The Hindustan Times Raipur (Chhattisgarh): Eight poor Gond tribals suddenly find themselves in the spotlight: they are the ‘owners' of 43.7 hectares of land worth several crores of rupees, at Pusaur in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh. Ironically, they still seek employment under the welfare scheme MGNREGA. The land in question was used for constructing the 600-MW Korba West Power Co Ltd, a coal-fired power plant, by the Avantha (Thapar) group. Last month,...